Merge Users

[Burke ♞ Knight]

A merge users feature would be very nice, like VB has. That is something I have been thinking of posting for some time, due to helping out on a couple VB forums.

This is something I think can come in handy, due to people forgetting their login details, and had an email address change, so can not get their password.

They could register with the new name and email, then PM the admin, who can verify via IP address, or through other info that the 2 accounts are the same person. Then, the admin can merge the old account into the new one, so all posts, PM's, etc are now under the new account.

[Sabre™]

Sounds interesting.
I use the "contact us" function, in which they contact the admin(s) via email, and a verification process then begins.
If all checks come back positive, then the user is given the new PW and logs in.
I also have a guest section in which they can request this also, incase they miss the "contact us" link.

I can see how this would be beneficial.

[H]

I believe this is possible through 2.0, although under a different name.

In Admin area > Forum Maintenance > Reattribute User Posts. This feature links guest posts to a user account. So you can delete the old user but not their posts, and then link their posts to the new user

This could be improved to make merging easier though

[Burke ♞ Knight]

True, but it wont do the PM's.

But it sounds like this idea has peaked some interest.

[karlbenson]

I am currently working on a merge SMF 2.x script.

Merging two entire smf forums together.  However although I've wrote 3000 lines of code, it still nowhere near complete. And no timeframe (i've already spent a month on it)

Hopefully when its finished it will have options to choose whether to merge Members, Cats/Boards, The Content, Pm's and most aspects of smf. (although it won't have options to choose specific members or boards to merge).

I've already coded functions which deal with duplicate members (with options to either merge or skip them). And it will reattribute any content inc posts, pms etc
(note there are three separate duplicate issues)
- those with same email address can be merged or not imported (regardless of same membername/real_name)
- those with same real_name get reverted to membername
- those with same membername get either skipped, renamed (eg membername to membername1) or to their email address, but can NOT be merged as they aren't a true duplicate. (any with same email are already dealt with so these are almost certainly different users)
[Unfortunately any imported users whose membername gets changed, at this moment in time are not able to login]

(Also note, ips are not guarantees of being same user, so there will definately not be functionality to merge with same ip, or request it)

Stay tuned.

[Burke ♞ Knight]

1. I'm not asking for a total merge like you are working on. However, I like the idea.
2. I very well know you cannot go by IP in all cases. However, in some, you can. It also helps at times to verify. That is the last thing I check when finding duplicate members.

My idea, is for an already going forum, or even new one, to help control duplicate members. To make it so if someone loses their password, and had an email change, they can register new account, and have their 2 accounts merged, posts, PM's etc.

[karlbenson]

Oh ok.

For what your after I thought smf 2.x can do the posts.
But you'd have to delete the target user first.

To be honest. I wouldn't merge pms on the basis of ips though.
I'm uneasy about merging them even when they have the same email address (as you can never always be sure they are the same person). Nevermind when its only ips.

In which case, there is always the chance that you are revealing someones personal messages to someone else.

Bear in mind on my old 2500 member forum, if i view any persons ips, it is rare to find an ip having only been used by 1 person. Normally I'll get at least 2 or 3 in the same range/same. And with some isps, dozens.

[Burke ♞ Knight]

Like I said, IP's will be the LAST point of verification.
The new account knowing the username, email used, and other hidden parts of the original account, is the main way of verifying.